Tapestries: Kings, Cardinals, and William Randolph Hearst

When one thinks of tapestries as an art form, the odds are good they associate them with the rich nobility and upper classes of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and the Early Modern era to a lesser extent. Tapestries decorate the walls of castles and of palatial manses, like Asheville’s very own Biltmore Estate, as indicators both of financial means and of artistic taste. And as such, when their owners find themselves wanting a change of decor, downsizing, or redesigning their home, or pass on, often they are donated to museums, where they can be enjoyed by a much larger audience for years to come.

This is essentially what happened to this fine collection. The eight aforementioned tapestries actually comprise two series’, one of five and one of three. The former depicts episodes in the life of a general of the Roman Republic Gaius Marcius Coriolanus, whose rise, fall, defection, and death were immortalized in the tragedy Coriolanus by William Shakespeare. The latter depicts scenes from The Adventures of Telemachus by Francois Fenelon, an extra-Homeric tale exploring the life of Telemachus, son of Odysseus, while his father was undertaking the arduous journey home of his own story. Hearst inherited the Coriolanus quintet from his mother Phoebe Apperson Hearst and purchased the Telemachus trio from the art dealers French & Company. 

But the provenance of these pieces begins well before they found themselves in the collection of the Hearsts. French & Company purchased the Telemachus series from New York antiques dealer Henry Symons and the Coriolanus series boasts an impressive record of ownership. Before Hearst’s mother, they were owned by art critic and tapestry authority Charles Mather Ffoulke, who purchased them in 1889, along with 130 other tapestries, from the Barbernini family of Rome, their entire collection. The Barberini family, a noble house known for their historic presence in the upper echelons of the Catholic Church, owned the tapestries for more than 200 years, Cardinal Antonio Barberini having purchased them from his close friend and political ally Cardinal Jules Mazarin, who acquired them in France, possibly from King Louis XIII himself. By the time Hearst came to own them, he was the latest in a long line of rich, powerful, and influential appreciators of the arts to do so.

But Hearst stands out amongst them nevertheless. He primarily used his wealth for two things; to accrue a truly singular collection of fine art to decorate his similarly-opulent homes, and to give generously to a slew of charitable organizations and causes, pursuits that reflected his lifelong appreciation for the arts and his deep philanthropic interests. The culmination of this public-spirited aspect of Hearst was his establishment of the Hearst Foundation, Inc. in 1945 and the California Charities Foundation in 1948, which was renamed to the William Randolph Hearst Foundation shortly after the death of its founder. The foundations have given more than 22,300 grants to more than 6,500 recipients over the course of their history, resulting in the total sum of their giving coming to more than $1.5 billion.

Lot 25
Rare and Important Flemish Mythological “Telemachus Hunting with Antiope” Silk and Wool Tapestry, William Randolph Hearst Provenance

It was the Hearst Foundation, Inc. that came to own the tapestries after the death of their founder, and who donated the two sets to the Brooklyn Museum in his memory in 1954. Hearst’s son, William Randolph Hearst Jr., presented the tapestries to the president of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, Robert E. Blum, personally. Both series were shortly thereafter put on prominent display in the museum’s entry hall, there to greet museum visitors with their ornate, elaborate composition and impressive depth of field. They remained in the museum’s collection for nearly 70 years before being deaccessioned and sent to us here at Brunk Auctions to initiate the next chapter in their multi-century long history. We hope you take the sale of these beautiful works of art as an opportunity to add a piece of classical decor, both in content and form, to your home.

Lot 19
Rare and Early Millefleurs and Animal Wool Tapestry